Posts tagged "msx"
Oya, I've heard of mega-ROMs
Konami made some of the best games for the MSX computer platform. Unfortunately, the market being what it is, those cartridges have become expensive collectibles rather than cheap games, which takes all the fun out of it. Before we can build a bootleg cart, we need to understand Konami’s unique mapper.
Stand for the National CF-2700 Anthem
When you impulse-bid on a lot of five MSX1s, you don’t expect to find a new favourite system. As soon as this thing arrived, I fell in love with it at first sight. Panasonic knocked it out of the park with the design of this surprisingly heavy CF-2700. It looks like an executive telephone from Blade Runner. But: there’s a crack in it.
Can't keep The Most Useless MSX down
Even after I got it to boot by replacing the video chip, the Casio PV-7 MSX1 still had a bunch of problems. Top of mind were the broken keyboard and the corroded power jack. Let’s fix these issues too, so we can get back to enjoying this el-cheapo computer and the free programs on offer in the manual.
The Most Useless MSX
One of the more unloved MSX1s is the Casio PV-7. This poor little 8-bit computer was saddled with a crappy keyboard, only 8kB of RAM, no printer port, no built-in tape interface, and only a single cartridge slot. And that cartridge slot doesn’t even follow the MSX standard!
Fixing the HB-101's keyboard
When I first got the HB-101, its combination of small RAM and lack of any way to get software on it was a problem, sure. There was a bigger problem waiting, though: the grim spectre of an inconsistent keyboard.
Sony HB-101 and NEC PC-8801mkIISR pickup
Japanese Santa dropped by my house earlier this week and left behind a back-shredding 40lb box of microcomputer goodness. Let’s investigate.